1383, the king and his court, with 12,000
men-at-arms, appeared at the Porte St. Denis, and there stood the
provost of the merchants with the chief citizens in new robes, holding
a canopy of cloth of gold. Charles, with a fierce glance, ordered them
back; the gates were unhinged and flung down; the royal army entered
as in a conquered city. A terrible vengeance ensued. The President of
the Parlement and other civil officers, with three hundred prominent
citizens, were arrested and cast into prison. In vain was the royal
clemency entreated by the Duchess of Orleans, the rector of the
university and chief citizens all clothed in black. The bloody diurnal
work of the executioner began and continued until a general pardon was
granted on March 1st on payment of an enormous fine. The liberties of
the city met the same fate. The Maison aux Piliers reverted to the
crown, the provostship of the merchants, and all the privileges of the
Parisians, were suppressed, and the hateful taxes reimposed. Never had
the heel of despotism ground them down so mercilessly; yet was no
niggardly welcome given to Isabella of Bavaria, Charles' consort, on
her entry into Paris in 1389. "I, the author of this book," says
Froissart, after describing at length the usual incidents of a royal
procession--the fountains running with wines, aromatic with Orient
spices, the music, the ballets, the spectacles, the sumptuous
decorations--"I marvelled when I beheld such great foison, for all the
grant Rue St. Denis was as richly covered with cloth of camelot and of
silk like as were all the cloth had for nothing or that we were in
Alexandria or Damascus." A curious incident is related by the
chronicler of St. Denis; Charles, desirous of being present incognito
at the wondrous scene, bade Savoisy take horse and let him ride
behind _en croupe_. Thus mounted the pair rode to the Chatelet to see
the queen pass. There they found much people and a strong guard of
sergeants, armed with stout staves with which the officers smote amain
to keep back the press, and in the scuffle the king received many a
thwack on the shoulders, whereat was great merriment when the thing
was known at court in the evening. Three years later a royal progress
of far different nature was witnessed in Paris. The king, a poor
demented captive, was borne in by the Duke of Orleans to the Hotel St.
Paul. In 1393, when he had somewhat recovered from his madness, a
grand masked ball was given to ce